"And long might you have seen, An old man wandering, as in quest of something, And where was Ginevra? Half breathless with haste, she ran to an old gallery in the upper part of the palace, fancying her pursuers had almost overtaken her. As she hastily glanced round the dimly lighted gallery, in search of a hiding place, her eye rested on an oaken chest, beautifully carved and ornamented by a celebrated sculptor of Venice, which once held the robes of a prince of her illustrious race. Quick as thought, Ginevra exerted her strength to raise the cover. The chest easily held her fragile form. Trembling with joy and excitement, she heard the loved and well-known tones of Francesco's voice, who was foremost in pursuing her; when her hand, which held the cover ajar to admit the air, slipped and it fell, "fastening her down for ever." The chest was constructed, for greater security, with a spring, which locked as it was shut, and could only be opened by one outside touching a particular part of the curious workmanship. But, before Francesco reached the gallery, the lovely and unfortunate girl had ceased to breathe in that closely shut chest. Many times they passed the gallery, but they heeded not the hiding-place of the lost bride; which, alas! was destined to be her grave. No flowers could shed their perfumes over her grave, watered by the tears of those that loved her. Her fate was a mystery, and soon her memory passed away, like all the fleeting things of earth. And Donati, what had he to live for? In the beautiful language of Mrs. Hemans, he might have said, "It is enough! mine eye no more of joy or splendor sees! I go, since earth its flower hath lost, to join the bright and fair, And call the grave a lovely place, for thou, my child, art there." Examples for practice may be taken from any source which the teacher or the student may select. XXV. ANAGRAMS. An anagram is the transposition of the letters of a word, or short sentence, so as to form another word, or phrase, with a different meaning. Thus, the letters which compose the word stone, may be arranged so as to form the words tones, notes, or seton; and, (taking j and v as duplicates of i and u,) the letters of the alphabet may be arranged so as to form the words Styx, Phlegm, quiz, frown'd and back.* *Pilate's question to Jesus, " Quid est veritas ?" (What is truth ?) has Astronomers, Telegraphs, Gallantries, Democratical, Encyclopedia, Lawyers, Misanthrope, Penitentiary, Radical Reform, Revolution, James Stuart, Fxamples. Moon-starers. All great sins. A just master. Claims Arthur's Seat. Reveal, O Daniel. Never so mad a Ladie. For exercises of practice, the student may select his own words or sen tences. As it is a mere literary amusement, the exercise is not considered worthy of much attention. been happily converted in an anagram to the words, "Est vir qui adest," (It is the man who is before you.) Jablonski welcomed the visit of Stanislaus, King of Poland, with his noble relatives of the house of Lescinski, to the annual examination of the students under his care, at the gymnasium of Lissa, with a number of anagrams, all composed of the letters in the words Domus Lescinia. The recitations closed with an heroic dance, in which each youth carried a shield inscribed with a legend of the letters. After a new evolution, the boys exhibited the words Ades incolumis; next, Omnis es lucida; next, Omne sis lucida; fifthly, Mane sidus loci; sixthly, Sis columna Dei; and at the conclusion, I scande solium. But a still more remarkable anagram than any that has been presented, will be found in the Greek inscription on the Mosque of St. Sophia, in Con stantinople: Η Νίψον ανομηματα μη μοναν οψιν,” which present the same words, whether read from left to right, or from right to left. Sir Isaac Newton was in the habit of concealing his mathematical dis coveries, by depositing the principles in the form of anagrams; by which he might afterwards claim the merit of the invention without its being stolen by others. *This lady fancied herself a prophetess, and supposed the spirit of Daniel to be in her, because this anagram could be formed from her name. But her anagram was faulty, as it contained an I too much, and an s too little. She was completely put down by the anagram made from the name Dame Eleanor Davies, "Never so mád a ladie." XXVI. OF GRAMMATICAL PROPRIETY. Although the details of Grammar and grammatical rule are not embraced in the plan of this work, it will be proper to present some observations, by way of review, with regard to those principles which are most frequently disregarded or forgotten by careless writers. Some remarks have already been made with regard to a few of the improprieties which are frequently observed, even in writers of respectability. The considerations now to be offered are presented in the form of directions. DIRECTION 1st. In determining the number of a verb, regard must be had to the idea which is embraced in the subject or nominative. Whenever the idea of plurality is conveyed, whether it be expressed by one word, or one hundred, and however connected, and in whatever number the subject may be, whether singular or plural, all verbs relating to it must be made to agree, not with the number of the word or words, but with the number of the idea conveyed by the words. DIRECTION 2d. In the use of pronouns, the same remark applies, namely, that the number of the pronoun must coincide with the idea con tained in the word, or words, to which the pronoun relates. If it imply unity, the pronoun must be singular; if it convey plurality, the pronoun must be plural. These directions will be better understood by an example Thus, in the sentence, “Each of them, in their turn, receive the benefits to which they are entitled," the verbs and pronouns are in the wrong number. The word each, although it includes all, implies but one at a time. The idea, therefore, is the idea of unity, and the verb and pronoun should be singular; thus, "Each of them in his turn receives the benefit to which he is entitled." The same remark may be made with regard to the following sentences: "Every person, whatever be their (his) station, is bound by the duties of morality." "The wheel killed another man, who is the sixth that have (has) lost their (his) lives (life) by these means." "I do not think that any one should incur censure for being tender of their (his) reputation." DIRECTION 3d. In the use of verbs and words which express time, care must be taken that the proper tense be employed to express the time that is intended. Perhaps there is no rule more frequently violated than this, even by good writers; but young writers are very prone to the error. Thus, the author of the Waverley Novels has the following sen tence:* *See Parker's 12mo edition of the Waverley Novels, Vol. XIII. p. 14. 6 "Description,' he said, 'was (is) to the author of a romance, exactly what drawing and tinting were (are) to a painter; words were (are) his colors, and, if properly employed, they could (can) not fail to place the scene which he wished (wishes) to conjure up, as effectually before the mind's eye, as the tablet or canvass presents it to the bodily organ. The same rules,' he continued, applied (apply) to both, and an exuberance of dialogue in the former case, was (is) a verbose and laborious mode of com position, which went (goes) to confound the proper art of the drama, a widely different species of composition, of which dialogue was (is) the very essence; because all, excepting the language to be made use of, was (is) presented to the eye by the dresses, and persons, and actions, of the per formers upon the stage.' The author was misled throughout in the tenses of the verbs in this extract, by the tense of the verb said, with which he introduces it. DIRECTION 4th. Whenever several verbs belonging to one common subject occur in a sentence, the subject or nominative must be repeated whenever there is a change in the mood, tense, or form of the verb. DIRECTION 5th. In the use of the comparative and superlative de grees of the adjective, it is to be remarked, that when two things or persons only are compared, the comparative degree, and not the superlative, should be used. Thus, in the sentence, "Catharine and Mary are both well attired; but, in their appearance, Catharine is the neatest, Mary the most showy," the superlative degree of the adjective is improperly applied. As there are but two persons spoken of, the adjectives should be in the comparative degree namely neater and more showy. DIRECTION 6th. Neuter and intransitive verbs should never be used in the passive form. Such expressions as was gone, is grown, is fallen, is come, may be relied on, &c., although used by some good writers, are ob jectionable. *Although this form of expression is sanctioned by Murray, Lowth, and other good authorities, yet reason and analogy will not justify us in assent ing to their decision; for, besides the awkwardness of the expression, it is objectionable as being an unnecessary anomaly. But the author has been influenced in his rejection of such expressions, by the very sensible and conclusive remarks of Mr. Pickbourn, in a very learned work, entitled "A Dissertation on the English Verb," published in London, 1789. Dr. Priestley, in his "Grammar," page 127, says, "It seems not to have been determined by the English grammarians, whether the passive participles of verbs neuter require the auxiliary am or have before them. The French, in this case, confine themselves strictly to the former." "This remark," says Mr. Pickbourn, "concerning the manner of using the participles of French neuter verbs is certainly not well founded; for most of them are conjugated with avoir, to have." Such expressions as the following have recently become very common, not only in the periodical publications of the day, but are likewise finding favor with popular writers; as, "The house is being built." "The street is being paved." "The actions that are now being performed," &c. "The patents are being prepared." The usage of the best writers does not sanc tion these expressions; and Mr. Pickbourn, in the work just quoted, lays down the following principle, which is conclusive upon the subject. "Whenever the participle in ing is joined by an auxiliary verb to a nomina DIRECTION 7th. In the use of irregular verbs, a proper distinction should be made in the use of the imperfect tense and the perfect participle. He done (did) it at my request: He run (ran) a great risk: He has mistook (mistaken) his true interest: The cloth was wove (woven) of the finest wool: He writes as the best authors would have wrote (written) had they writ (written) on the subject: The bell has been rang (rung): I have spoke (spoken) to him upon the subject. These sentences are in stances where the proper distinction between the preterite and participle has not been preserved. DIRECTION 8th. The negative adverb must be followed by the negative conjunction; as, "The work is not capable of pleasing the understanding, nor (not or) the imagination." The sentence would be improved by using the conjunctions in pairs, substituting neither for not. In the following sentences, the conjunction but is improperly used. "I cannot deny but that I was in fault." "It cannot be doubted but that this is a state of positive gratification," &c. DIRECTION 9th. There must be no ellipsis of any word, when such ellipsis would occasion obscurity. Thus, when we speak of "the laws of God and man," it is uncertain whether one or two codes of laws are meant; but, in the expression, "the laws of God, and the laws of man," the obscurity vanishes. A nice distinction in sense is made by the use or omission of the articles. "A white and red house," means but one house; but, "A white and a red house," means two houses. In the expression, "She has a little modesty," the meaning is positive; but, by omitting the article, "She has little modesty," the meaning becomes negative. The position of the article, also, frequently makes a great difference in the sense, as will be seen in the following examples: "As delicate a little thing; ""As a delicate little thing." DIRECTION 10th. The adverb should always be placed as near as possible to the word which it is designed to qualify. Its proper position is generally before adjectives, after verbs, and frequently between the auxiliary and the verb. The following sentence exhibits an instance of the improper location of the adverb: "It had almost been his daily custom, at a certain hour, to visit Admiral Priestman." The adverb almost should have been placed before daily. DIRECTION 11th. In the use of passive and neuter verbs, care must be taken that the proper nominative is applied. That which is the object of the active verb, must in all cases be the subject or nominative of the passive verb. Thus, we say, with the active verb, "They offered him mercy" (i. e. to him); and, with the passive verb, "Mercy was offered to tive capable of the action, it is taken actively; but, when joined to one incapable of the action, it becomes passive. If we say, the men are building a house,' the participle building is evidently used in an active sense; because the men are capable of the action. But when we say, The house is building,' or 'Patents are preparing,' the participles building and preparing must necessarily be understood in a passive sense; because neitlier the honse nor the patents are capable of action." See Pickbourn on the English Verb, pp. 78-S0. |